...Meanwhile retired Judge Quentin Kopp, former chair of the authority and, as a state senator, co-author of the bill creating the first high-speed rail study, branded the new plan "the great train robbery."

Transit advocates in Los Angeles and on the Peninsula have been trying for years to "pick the pocket" of the bullet train by urging that project funds be used for local improvements, Kopp said.

"Sharing the tracks with CalTrain here and with Metrolink and Amtrak between Los Angeles and Anaheim bars operating more than maybe two trains per hour of high speed rail," Kopp said in a phone interview. But high-speed rail revenue projections were based on operating trains every five or six minutes.

In addition, Kopp added, blended service could violate Proposition 1A. The voter-approved bond required that passengers travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco without changing trains. A blended service likely would require two transfers: in Sylmar and in San Jose...Rob's comment:See also Kopp's declaration during litigation on the high-speed rail project for an insider's view of how that project went so wrong.